Monday, December 31, 2012

The line between restaurants and food
retailers is growing ever thinner. The fight for America’s food dollars
continues to intensify as consumers find fresh prepared ready-2-eat food
options at a wide and growing array of outlets across almost every channel:
convenience stores, chain drug stores, restaurants, grocery stores, club
stores, vending and even more non-food retailers like dollar stores. While manufacturers, retailers and
restaurants worry about choice overload, consumers have embraced their new
choices and show no signs of returning to the old ways. This fight is taking
place in what is called the grocerant niche.

The restaurant industry is not an
industry known for trying to be first as in fastest to market with an ideation,
food or technology advance. In the United States the larger the chain in almost
all cases the more slowly they are to adopt something than a smaller chain or
independent restaurants will. Chain
restaurants goal is simple feed one meal at a time in the restaurant while
protecting and edifying the brand.

Historically chain restaurant leaders have denied the
credibility of start-up competitors as non-relevant. The pizza sector is a
great example; evolving from family dinning independents to national chain of
“Red Roof” Italian, then to delivery only outlets and now take-N-bake is
garnering market share in the pizza sector.

At the intersection of the consumer,
fresh prepared food and technology we fine that consumer eating behavior is
evolving and is now beyond the control of traditional food marketers. Evolving
culture and lifestyle, demographics along with the new uncertain economy are
all putting pressure on the American food consumer: Demands of work, economic
shrinkage, demands of raising a family, commuting, social interaction, kid’s
after-school activities, all contribute to a food marketplace where convenience
vies with price over legacy brands. Recent advances in food packaging and new
points of non-traditional food distribution have empowered consumer choice, and
Americans are embracing these choices even as legacy marketers cringe. Who’s
after restaurant food dollars simply put everyone.

Why should you care if Walgreens is
selling fresh prepared ready-2-eat and made-2-order sandwiches? Why should you
care if Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Safeway and Wegmans are selling ready-2-eat
and or heat-N-eat fresh pizza? Why
should you care if Coinstar is selling Seattle Best Coffee at 1,000 locations
for $1.00?

You should care because they are
selling it, and you are not! The fastest growing sector of retail food service
for the past four years has been the Convenience store sector. The C-store sectors growth in large part has
been driven by fresh prepared food. Non-traditional avenues of distribution are
growing, gobbling market share while establishing new patterns of consumption,
price points and customer loyalty.

Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have created ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh
prepared food items with qualitative differentiation as an entity with identity
that has help propel them into ready-2-eat fresh prepared food leadership. In fact recent research shows that both
Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are each known for high quality (restaurant
quality) ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat foods with distinctive offerings. More important each is leading with
innovative products and package size that create value and have positioned each
chain as a food shopping destination
for meal components customized and personalized for immediate consumption or
mix and matched for a meal time at home. In short they are stealing your
customers.

Walgreens fresh prepared food is restaurant quality and priced less than
Panera Bread or Corner Bakery. Both
Panera Bread and Corner bakery thrive in urban locations. Walgreens is now
growing price, quality and speed of service advantages over legacy retailers. Legacy restaurant chains must reconsider the
speed at which they evolve and adapt or non-traditional outlets will capture
profits margins as well.

Traditional views of meals and mealtime
can pretty much be discarded. Legacy retailers waiting for the “next big thing”
to copy simply might be out of luck this time.
Legacy food retailers may not like to be first movers very much but it
may prove that waiting too long will not work this time.

The retail food world is evolving at an
ever increasing pace filled with innovation in food, portion size, points of
distribution, and quality fresh prepared meal solutions. The price, value, service equilibrium is resetting in retail
foodservice. In order to edify the
brand and reinforce consumer relevance restaurateurs leverage Foodservice
Solutions® 5P’s of food marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement,
Portability and Price.

Many legacy food
retailers continue to practice brand protectionism, stifle the brand while
diminishing consumer relevance. The
consumer is dynamic not static. Brands
must be dynamic, evolving with the consumer.
Four years of watching other retail sectors thrive should be long
enough. Success in the restaurant world is no longer simply about what happens
within your 4 walls.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Legacy food
retailers the ilk of Wendy’s, Chevy’s, KFC, Albertsons, Safeway and Rite Aid
sputter to be a consumer relevant place; Starbucks has moved beyond the “third
place” for consumers too everyplace for consumers.

When food retailers
think success, they must think Starbucks.
In the beginning Howard Schultz wanted consumers to think of Starbucks
as the “third place” home, work and Starbucks.
Howard simply did not stop there, today Starbucks is everywhere.

Utilizing a local
relationship with Seattle based Coinstar, Starbucks (Seattle Best Coffee
division) will begin placing kiosks around the United States this summer
positioning itself to sell coffee. I
say, LOT’s of coffee.

With 20% of sales
now coming from food the addition of La Boulange will prove valuable in
existing coffee houses but even more valuable as a new line of Consumer
Packaged Goods. Starbucks will elevate this brand, educate the consumer and
exploit a qualitative point of differentiation.

Just in case you
missed it, Socialbakers a social media and digital analytics firm found that
Starbucks is among the top five companies globally in terms of Facebook fans.

Watch for more in
the area of sustainability, additional fare trade coffee, less packaging with
prolonged shelf life and new marketing that will ask consumers to bring in a
reusable cup. These are not trends for
Starbucks they are values.

Let us not forget
the home. Starbucks has shipped more
than 230 million k-Cups since it began selling the pods last year at
supermarkets and retailers. Then for home and on the go there are two new
Frappuccino’s this spring.

Many legacy food
retailers continue to practice brand protectionism, stifle the brand while
diminishing consumer relevance.
McDonalds and Starbucks are two companies that understand the consumer
is dynamic not static. Brands must be
dynamic, evolving with the consumer.
Starbucks is growing its brand value with the consumer are you? Do you understand vertical brand integration
as well as Starbucks?

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a
grocerant program assessment, brand, product placement or positioning
assistance. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global
leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson,
Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Food Shopping Destinations drive success. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods
provide positive proof that a private label food products continue to garner
favor with consumers. In a study release
June 1, 2012, by Perception Research Services found that 86% of consumers buy
Private Label products on a regular basis.

In fact, in two particular cases consumers go out of their way to buy
private label. Yes, those two cases were
Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods each known for high quality distinctive
offerings. The study suggests that with
proper innovation and focus, private label products can and do create value
while positioning a chain as a shopping destination with consumers.

Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have created ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh
prepared food items with qualitative differentiation as an entity with identity
that has help propel them into this private label leadership.

Last year industry wide several new food categories moved into the top tier
of private label products in large part to rapid rate of growth they were: Soft Drinks, Frozen Meals,Salty snacks, and Cookies.

Consumers are now looking for private label products as a personal
preference. This is a dramatic change
from just 10 years ago when consumer simply wanted to save a few $ cents. Fresh
prepared ready-2-eat food has helped evolve this niche. Both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are
benefiting from early leadership.

Outside
eyes can deliver top line sales and bottom line profits. Invite
Foodservice Solutions® to complete a grocerant program assessment, brand,
product placement or positioning assistance.
Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global
leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson,
Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Thom Bilschok global
president, innovation and strategy for SymphonyIRI stated while speaking about
IRI’s new survey “Accelerating Growth in Uncertain Times” that “ meal
ingredients and components together make up the “hottest supercategory” … We’re
projecting that meal ingredients are going to grow over double digits for 2011
and 2012,” he said. “Shoppers continue to [struggle] with expenditures.

Success leaves clues
and Blischok went on to make a number of suggestions. “Within meal
ingredients/components, retailers should invest in flavor innovation. “People
are getting tired of eating the same old meatloaf — they’d like to try a
different kind of meatloaf,” he noted. “So if I were a retailer, I would do two
things: I would make sure shoppers understood that I’m there to help them make
a simpler, better-quality, more value-driven meal than in the past; and I would
be doing some private brand innovation around flavors and taste.” Regular readers of this blog are not
surprised by this at all.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Leveraging legacy locations,
convenience, speed of service while integrating branded fresh prepared
ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat prepared food; convenience stores are garnering
customers from both the restaurant and grocery sectors.

Convenience stores
foodservice offerings have largely been over looked or dismissed by Quick
Service Restaurant chain operators and grocery stores. Following the lead of Wawa, Sheetz, Rutter’s
and now 7 Eleven the convenience store sector is branding food programs from
coast to coast. More importantly they
are garnering a larger share of stomach with improving food quality, healthful
offerings and speed of service that quite frankly QSR’s can’t keep up with.

David Sprinkle,
publisher of Packaged Facts stated "By enhancing foodservice quality and
variety, we believe convenience stores are poised to benefit from increased
sales of gasoline and other merchandise, as consumers seek to consolidate their
purchases in the interest of efficiency"…"Because it is so well
positioned, we anticipate that convenience store industry foodservice sales
growth will outperform the retail and restaurant foodservice industry average
through 2013."

In fact Packaged
Facts projects that convenience store foodservice sales grew 6% in 2010, and
rose an additional 6% in 2011 and 5% in 2012. That increase is the largest of
all sectors within the retail food space.

Since 1991 retail food consultancy Foodservice
Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for
more on Foodservice Solutions® Bing or Google Grocerants or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, twitter.com/grocerant Email: grocerant@q.com

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

7 Eleven is the fastest growing food
retailer by locations in the United States in 2012. New urban locations can be found in Miami,
Chicago and New York City. Most of these
stores do not have any parking and are focused on quality fresh food with fast
service.

Each of the new footprint stores are in
the 1,800sf range. All of the stores have selections of fresh salads, fruit,
pastries, pizzas, wraps and
sandwiches, plus American coffee. Traditional c-store staples like
chips, beef jerky and grilled hot dogs are also available, and of course they
offer proprietary branded food like Slurpee’s.

7-Eleven's in urban are focused on the ready-2-eat
and heat-N-eat grocerant niche each new stores has a strong emphasis on fresh
and grab-and-go foods aimed at downtown residents and office workers. This
positioning places them in direct competition with restaurants and grocery
store deli’s.

Foodservice Solutions®
specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify,
quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand
leveraging integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit
Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant.

7 Eleven is the fastest growing food
retailer by locations in the United States in 2012. New urban locations can be found in Miami,
Chicago and New York City. Most of these
stores do not have any parking and are focused on quality fresh food with fast
service.

Each of the new footprint stores are in
the 1,800sf range. All of the stores have selections of fresh salads, fruit,
pastries, pizzas, wraps and
sandwiches, plus American coffee. Traditional c-store staples like
chips, beef jerky and grilled hot dogs are also available, and of course they
offer proprietary branded food like Slurpee’s.

7-Eleven's in urban are focused on the ready-2-eat
and heat-N-eat grocerant niche each new stores has a strong emphasis on fresh
and grab-and-go foods aimed at downtown residents and office workers. This
positioning places them in direct competition with restaurants and grocery
store deli’s.

Foodservice Solutions®
specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify,
quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand
leveraging integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit
Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant.

The grocerant
niche is the result of the blurring line between restaurants, grocery stores,
convenience stores, and drug stores all selling fresh prepared, portable,
convenient meal solutions. Targeted at the time-starved consumer with
Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food components that are perceived
“better for you”, and portioned for one or two. Consumers like the Convenient
Meal Participation, Differentiation, Individualization / Family Customization
that these retailers offer.

Restaurateurs
need to be particularly mindful of developments within grocerant niche for they
are driving the change within the price, value, service equilibrium in retail
foodservice.

It is at the
intersection of the consumer, technology and The 5 P’s of Food Marketing:
Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability, and Price that retail food sales
competition is expanding. Driving ever greater Mix and Match bundled meal
options and new points of distribution for consumers.

Consumers love the
on-the-go options in fact Zaget’s 2013 NYC Restaurant Survey found that in New
York at-home meals surpassed dining out for the first time in 30 years.

GrubHub the
nation’s number one online and mobile food ordering service data reveled that
pre-game orders spiked more than 35 % for the first four weeks of the 2012
professional football season when compared to the same timeframe during the
2011 season. With San Francisco, Phoenix, Oakland and Atlanta all leading the
way. “When it comes to watching football, the best seat in the house really is
at home,” stated Susanne Dawursk, GrubHub’s brand marketing director.

More than just
sports The 65 inch HDTV Syndrome is driving customers away from
frozen foods as well. In a study from Packaged Facts, reports that sales in the
$44 billion U.S. retail market for frozen foods have been flat to declining,
with nearly all dollar sales gains attributable to inflation or new products --
not to increased consumer demand. The study found that Preference for 57 % of
consumer say fresh foods the top reason why US consumers have not purchased
frozen foods in the last three months, followed by preference for home-cooked
meals.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

What’s for dinner? If your cooking for an at home family meal
for two, three, or four, family members, chances are very good your buying
several ready-2-eat or heat-N-eat fresh prepared meal components. Grocery stores, convenience stores and
restaurants are all bundling fresh prepared meal components for the home cook. The home cook is responding buying
individualized components.

Foodservice branded and private label
food manufactures are all vying for your attention. Ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat
foods from Swiss steak, Meatloaf, Baked Salmon, Rotisserie Chicken, Pizza and
Lasagna fresh prepared, portioned and portable in portions for 1,2, or 5 are
all available at most foodservice retail location.

Most exciting is the opportunity for
new start-up’s and regional manufactures to produce sustainable business built
on local, fresh and unique flavor profiles.
Legacy national brand manufactures are experiencing an increase in
repositioning, consolidation and acquisition activities. Regional start-ups are thriving supplying
local restaurants, C-stores and grocery store delis.

Consumer are responding buying meal
components in new food channels, experiencing new flavor profiles all the while
individualizing the family meal. The
foodservice industry is evolving with the consumer. Those companies looking for opportunity for
growth times have never been better. The consumer is dynamic not static are you
keeping pace?

Foodservice
Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you
identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or
a brand leveraging integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA
is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson,
Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Pueblo’s Grocery
stores grocerant prepared food is perfectly positioned. Clean well stocked
stores that are beaming with patrons always are solid platforms for
success. Pueblo is no exception. If your
eyes on the grocerant prepared food niche, Pueblo is one company that should be
on your must visit list.

Time starved with
diverse appetites after years of exposure to multi-cultural flavors profiles
today’s consumer want prepared meal components that can be individualized not
just family sized. Pueblo’s prepared
food program does just that. With
detailed attention to service, cleanliness and food quality its clear Pueblo is
focused on growing this booming niche within foodservice retail.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The grocerant niche is
a result of the blurring of the line between restaurants, grocery stores,
convenience stores, and drug stores all selling fresh prepared, portable
convenient meal solutions. Marketers not consumers don't tend to think in
traditional channel terms like grocery, drug or dollar. Instead, consumers
think in terms such as hungry, thirsty, in a hurry or I have to feed the
family.

The Grocerant niche is
targeted at the time-starved consumer with Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh
prepared food components that are “better for you”, portable and portioned for
one or two. Walgreens gets it and is positioning for a much larger share of the
food retailing dollar. At 4PM you may
soon be picking up dinner on your way home from work at Walgreens.

In a pilot program
rolled out in the San Francisco bay area you can now find fresh
fruits and vegetables, salads, sushi ,
sandwiches and Heat-N-Eat meat loaf. In addition Walgreens spokesman Robert
Elifinger stated “ Our San Francisco area customers are already buying a lot of
food in our stores, and there are requests for more product offerings," he
said.

In addition to the items listed above - and
Walgreens' more traditional offerings, including candy, potato chips and soda -
there'll be meats, wraps, soups "and other on-the-go meal options, as well
as convenient alternatives for tonight's meal,"

With this new market test underway, Walgreens is
now testing fresh food in New York via Duane-Reade, Chicago and the San
Francisco bay area. For all of my regular readers you have heard it hear before
but this trend is sweeping the country from coast to coast.

These expanded points of distribution may well
challenge many a legacy fresh food retailer including chain restaurants,
grocery stores and convenience stores for market share.

Since 1991 retail
food consultancy Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global
leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven Johnson Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us www.FoodserviceSolutions.us http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, twitter.com/grocerant or Facebook

Monday, December 17, 2012

I have you noticed that Kodak is nearly out of business. Growing up in
the 1960’s and ‘70’s, every family had a Kodak Camera and I still have one of
mine. Those yellow boxes were everywhere and getting your very own Kodachrome
camera was seemingly a rite of passage, heck, Paul Simon even wrote a song
about it.

As digital cameras gained popularity, Kodak stuck to what they believed. They
sneered at digital’s quality, righteous in their knowledge that Americans would
NEVER give up shiny pictures for their photo albums.

Today, cell phone cameras take most of the pictures and they are rarely
printed. Kodak will shut the doors, correct in their assertion that
professionally developed pictures look better than low-resolution versions
uploaded to Facebook.

Being
dead and correct is not a great strategy. Today chain restaurants are either growing or
dying much the same as Kodak. Simply look at restaurants that filed bankruptcy
of late: Claim Jumper, Mr. Pita, Friendly’s, Chevys, Sbarro, Perkins. They
are not all dead but they have been far from right.

These are statements frequently heard from legacy restaurant operators. Like
Kodak, crystal clear that what has always worked will continue to work.

• Our executives have 30 years of experience and know how to run the business.
• We never use coupons, nor do we deliver.
• We don’t allow our brand to wander, we protect our brand.
• We don’t use online ordering, I-pad ordering or voice screen ordering.
• We don’t advertise on Google, Twitter or Facebook.
• We don’t open for breakfast.
• We like the umbrella approach each store different personality but under one
umbrella.
• Video menus and video signage is visceral gimmickry.
• We don’t measure ingredients, we create daily specials and simply show
employees how to make it
• We can’t raise our menu prices.

How did a dominant brand and sector leader like Kodak, in a rock-solid consumer
staple lose everything? Simple, they determined the market, the direction of
that market and took the steps to conquer it.
If that sounds like your restaurant, retail food sector or niche leader,
you better keep reading.

There is little about today’s market, the consumer or food marketing /
promotions that was predictable 3 years ago. In the next three years the rate
of change will continue to increase. So let’s look at the above list:

Reliability and a comfortable working relationship is correctly a key to
success. However, if you find your team
is blaming the economy, minimum wages increases, cost of health care and rising
food cost for disappointing results. Do not forget that many restaurants
companies are growing both the top and bottom line, number of units and
garnering market share. It might be time
for Outside Eyes.

We always/never use coupons – coupons and promotions are very complicated
today. Add the online aggregators the ilk of Livingsocial and Groupon and how
can you know what works. Here is the point, what you measure you manage. All
advertising must have a objective that is clear and measurable to insure a
proper marketing ROI.

We don’t deliver – face it, convenience is a driving reason why foodservice is
popular. If you do not want to deliver, consider outsourcing. Delivery is not about you. That’s right it is
about the consumer.

We protect the value of our brand and its integrity for the consumer,
our shareholders and stakeholders. We
know the consumer is dynamic not static, but our customer’s comeback because we
have a brand promise and they trust in us to keep that promise. Sounds a lot
like Kodak, don’t you think?

We don’t use online ordering our food does not “carry” well. Think about this if you don’t have a way to
connect your menu to computers and mobile devices, your competition will woo
your customers. Consumers are time starved, and hooked on technology, make it
easy.

Google or Facebook – as above, set up a Facebook page, it costs nothing. Have
someone help if you need it and then monitor your page 5 minutes a day. Don’t think about it get started today.

We don’t open for breakfast – you pay rent 24/7, find ways to increase the
utilization of your “factory”. Considering catering or school lunch program,
contract out your kitchen. Don’t become
the next Kodak of chain restaurants.

Different store brands / personalities under one large corporation and all
expected to operate utilizing a uniform set of metrics. Worked well in the 70’s, 80’s but you have
the answer. Let me know just how well
that works out.

Visceral gimmickry does not replace high quality food and great service
ever. Who defines quality service? You
via your brand promise or the consumer?

We don’t measure ingredients; my employees know how much to use – why have menu
prices, let customer pay whatever they want. If you don’t care what your
product costs, you CAN’T make money.
We can’t raise our menu prices – tell that to the gas station owner on the
corner, or the farmer growing your food. Costs are up, you must raise your menu
prices or you will not exist.

Kodak management, smart and hard working as they were, did not see the world
changing, fortunately you do. Realize that change is good and necessary. Act
now to challenge your assumption, create new revenue streams and increase
profits. Success does leave clues,
Disney movies leave you with a smile, being dead and correct is not a great
strategy.

Foodservice Solutions®
specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify,
quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand
leveraging integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit
Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Are you wondering why we see restaurant customer migration? “My mom made
two dishes: Take it or Leave it.” Is a
line made famous by comedian Stephen Wright?
Today restaurants need to battle the 65 inch TV’s demand for time and
attention. Brands must be multi-channel retailers or consumer will simply dial
out. Does your restaurant provide options for the 65 inch TV Syndrome?

Take it or leave it has come and gone. Today all food consumers are
empowered with choice; driven by preferences in flavor profiles, portion size,
packaging and portability. Below are 5
clues when considering if customer migration will include you’re restaurant in
2013.

U.S. consumers
under the age of 25 spend an average of 40.9% of their food expenditures on
food away from the home The Food Institute reported May 11, 2012.

Americans ages
23-34 spent 45.2% of food expenditures away from home the same report found.

Here is the
kicker, those ages 75 and up spent the least at 31.8% all this and more can be
found in The

Restaurants in
France are increasingly offering “café gourmand,” a desert dish featuring an
espresso and multiple small desserts on a single plate. Mix and Match bundling anyone is a key driver
of retail success.

The U.S. Census
found in 2012 that 50% of U.S. adults over the age of 18 are single.

We know where restaurant customers are going. Do you? Are you ready to build sales ans profits? The grocerant niche is filled with ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh and
prepared meal components. Around the world
consumers are refocusing how, where and when they chose to buy food. Are you
positioned within your niche to build sales?

Steven
Johnson is President of Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions, with extensive
experience as a multi-unit operator, consultant and brand/product positioning. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global
leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice
Solutions® visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant

Friday, December 14, 2012

Alice May Brock said: “Tomatoes and oregano make it
Italian, wine and tarragon make it French, sour cream makes it Russian, lemon
and cinnamon make it Greek, soy sauce makes it Chinese, garlic makes it good.”

Convenient meal
participation, differentiation and individualization; are each hallmarks of the
ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared grocerant niche. That is the recipe for retail food success in
2013.

Meal components allow customers
to select from Italian, American, French, Russian or Greek and utilize the
components at home any way they like.
The new American meal can be a composite of any prepared food components
that the individual may want and they can mix and pair them any way as
well. The United States is a melting pot
of people from all over the world, with different cultures, traditions and
flavor preferences. The new American
meal is a melting pot of flavor and choice.
Meal components that can be mix and matched for home consumption are
integral to retail success.

Fresh prepared and portable
ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat foods are now available for all they can be found at
Convenience stores, Drug stores, Grocery stores, Restaurants, and Mobile trucks
all just waiting for the taking. When
developing new menu items do you consider where the food will be consumed?

Consumers have been exposed to a
plethora of flavors and have not the time to master the skill of cooking
each. The rapidly growing grocerant
trend is empowering the consumer to establish new customs and traditions in
eating better, more flavorful food. The
Grocerant niche is about convenient
meal participation,
differentiation
and individualization.

Foodservice
Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you
identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or
a brand leveraging integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit
Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Ready for a Free Lunch! Consumer will welcome a
free lunch from Walgreens, while restaurateurs might become shaken by it. Food Retailing is evolving faster than most
restaurants want to admit or can even begin to understand. When a 78 Billion
dollar company with a legacy of fresh food in its history decides to re-enter
the food space restaurants better pay attention and evaluate market
positioning.

Regular readers of this blog are not surprised by
this proactive Fresh Food Mobile Tasting Tour that Walgreens has kicked
off. Walgreens 40-foot trucks will be
roaming the country offering free samples of juice, frozen yogurt, and coffee.
Since we have been documenting Walgreens food success for 6 years we sure hope
one of the trucks makes its way to Tacoma, WA. The grocerant niche is booming,
is your company ready to enter the ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat food niche? If so
Foodservice Solutions can help.

FRESH FOOD retailers who will you next competitor
be? Walgreens Fresh Food Mobile Tasting Tour is innovative,
consumer participatory and food focused with taste testing the number one way
to garner new food customers sampling.
With over 7,500 stores in the United States, Walgreens can on a national level
garner share from Grocery Stores, Restaurants and Convenience Stores if the so
choose.

Walgreens
company focused is on “better for you living” is extending the halo of
“better for you” into food with this “The Up Market Fresh” experience according
to Joe Magnacca president of daily living products for Walgreens. Magnacca
stated “Our fresh
food offerings provide customers with easier access to a greater selection of
fresh foods and beverages," …. "The 'Up Market: Fresh' experience is
a unique way to showcase our commitment to help people get, stay and live
well."

Planned samples are:

Juices -- Samples of
nutritious, fresh-made juices made from a combination of fresh fruits and
vegetables.

Go Green" is a featured
juice and is a blend of cucumber, kale, celery, green apple and lemon. One
hundred percent natural orange juice will also be sampled.

Smoothie -- The featured
smoothie will be Raspberry Dream, which is blended fresh from raspberries,
strawberries, bananas and apple cider.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Foodservice Solutions®
Grocerant Guru Steven Johnson has extolled the success that the convenience
store sector has had focusing on ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food
since 1991. When the year ends, without
a doubt for the 8th consecutive year, the convenience store sector
will be the fastest growing fresh food retail sector of all foodservice sectors.

Casey’s General Stores CEO Robert Myers when
speaking on the competitive landscape that (Casey’s) “Our prepared food program
is doing exceptionally well.”… “For the quarter, same-store sales were up 10.1% with an
average margin of 62.5%. “This category continues to benefit from three primary
operating initiatives: expanded hours, pizza delivery, and major store
remodels,” said Myers. “The margin continues to exceed our annual goal
primarily due to an increase in pizza sales.” Year to date, total same store sales
were up 14.5% and gross profit rose 19.4% to $182.1 million.”

Casey’s year to
date prepared food and fountain sales were up 14.5%. Yes, you read it right. I wanted to repeat it because I do not know a
restaurant chain with over 1,000 units that can say food sales for 2012 were up
14.5%. Do you? Are you doing what you have for the past 20
years? How is it working?

Casey’s fresh prepared food sales goals for 2013 growth for same-store
sales is 11%; given this companies track record I would bet they exceed that
goal. Do you want to know how they do
it? They leverage Foodservice Solutions® 5’P’s of Food Marketing: Product, Packaging, Placement,
Portability, Price into an integrated fresh food branded marketing plan.

If
you are interested in learning how integrating the 5P’s of Food Marketing can
edify your retail food product or brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and
individualization contact us via this blog or Email at: grocerant@q.com

Foodservice Solutions®
specializes in global outsourced business development. We can help you
identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or
a brand leveraging integration strategy. Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions
of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche for more visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The grocerant niche is a fresh prepared
food focused sector focused on consumer meal customization. With the convenience of fast-food, the
quality of full-service restaurant dining, without the hassle laboring around
an entire grocery store or sitting in a restaurant and paying a tip the
grocerant niche is booming. Amazon Fresh via “Seattle Spotlight” just might
become a new power-player in fresh food retail.

Amazon Fresh is the solution that is evolving across many
retail food platforms empowering the consumer, simplifying the meal process
while saving time starved consumer both time and money. Chain Restaurants,
Convenience Stores, Grocery Stores and Chain Drug Stores are all offering meal
component options. Amazon Fresh may be the only company that can focus on all
simultaneously.

Consumers respond positively when
components with a “better for you”
element are bundled as part of the meal focus. It’s a mix and match game that is very
empowering for the consumer. Consumer’s
select by meal occasion what “better for you” attribute they want. It can be fresh hamburger, low salt, cooked
to order, green packaging or delivery.

Don’t discount the value of consumer
choice or limit the world of “better for you”.
Mix and match of small portion, fresh products, green packaging is making
meal time a time of convenient meal
participation, differentiation and
individualization. The meal component can come from a restaurant, drug
store, grocery store or convenience store and aggregated by Amazon.com.

Today you can find retail foodservice
outlets that don’t offer seated dining rather they utilize call ahead and
take-away or delivery only business template blending the benefits of different
segments. In fact, according to a 2011 survey done by the National Restaurant
Association, nearly half (47 percent) of adults said they would be likely to
use a home delivery option if it was offered by a full-service restaurant.

In the same survey, more than one-third
of adults (37 percent) agreed that purchasing meals from restaurants,
take-out and delivery places make them more productive in their day-to-day
lives. The grocerant niche is consumer driven and garnering share of stomach
from legacy retailers.

Simply look at the retail foodservice growth and sales leaders of
today. Trader Joe’s, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Five Guys Burgers &
Fries, 7 Eleven are all growth leaders.
Trader Joe’s leads in sales per square foot at over $1,750 per Sq. Ft.
Chipotle, Five Guys and 7 Eleven are all growing units and garnering share of
stomach from everyone else. All are
members of the grocerant niche. Amazon
may be next to join the list. Are you
expanding points of distribution for your food prodcuts?

Since 1991 retail
food consultancy Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global
leader in the Grocerant niche for more on Foodservice Solutions® Bing or Google
Grocerants or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant, twitter.com/grocerant

Monday, December 10, 2012

Fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food is
driving top line growth in every sector of retail food service today including
restaurants, grocery, c-store and drug stores. Increasing top line revenue,
customer continuity, bottom line profits in the food industry should be an
ongoing focus of all retailers. Customer continuity means maintaining a level
of excitement in your menu or food products that drive contemporized relevance
for your customer in order to maintain or increase frequency levels.

Each food retailers
goal should be creating or identifying distinctive differentiated food
consumable’s as an entity with identity by day part. Understanding the unique balance between
palate, price, pleasure and the consumer’s drive for qualitative distinctive
differentiated new food consumables will place you in a select industry
grouping. Research with a focus on the
grocerant niche will help you get there.

The food value
proposition equilibrium for the consumer today balances; better for you, flavor, and traditional products all blendedinto something with a twist. In industry speak, differentiated does not
mean different to the consumer it means familiar. Private label brand managers have been
contributing by expanding quality offerings while displacing national
brands. Are you edifying your menu or
product offerings?

Outside eyes can
bring new light and assist in your pace of growth, redevelopment and deployment
of your new menu’s with appropriate COG’s. Foodservice Solutions is very good
at assisting people reach their goals. The grocerant niche is in need of
private label brand managers to assist in building long term brand value for
both individual product and brands.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

McDonalds has long understood
that strategy trumps tactics in a global retail marketplace clearly the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) leader in the United States and the
World. Over the past 30+ years McDonalds has leveraged its consumer qualitative
and quantitative attributes with marvelous menu magic, building a better brand
for global success. While a majority of
QSR copy-cat companies continue to pontificate brand protectionism. What is it
they don’t understand? Here are some menu magic success clues:

In Germany you can find cold beer
in most McDonalds. Canada, have a
lobster dinner with the McLobster lobster roll. In fish-loving Norway, they
have the McLaks, a sandwich made of grilled salmon and dill sauce. In Hong
Kong, Rice Burgers, where the burgers
are in between, not burger buns, but two patties of glutinous rice.

Australians can is
the only McDonalds market in the world with lamb on its menu permanently. You can also order Vegemite with
your English muffin. Australian Happy
Meals serve something called the Pasta Zoo which is a vegetable and cheese ravioli in the
shape of zoo
animals, served with a side of "Zoo Goo," made of tomato

In Asia the shrimp
burger is called the "EBI Filet-O" in Japan. In Hong Kong, it's
formally titled the Shrimp Burger and comes on bread with lettuce and spicy
sauce. In addition you my Japan's own
shrimp tempura. These shrimp are encrusted in a light batter and dunk nicely
into tempura sauce.

“Porridge isn't
soup, but rather sodden rice. Malaysians buy their version from food carts or
hawker centers, where vendors sell just that dish. While the McDonald's adaptation
is heavy on the rice, the Malaysian version comes in generous layers, with the
soft rice boiled in chicken or seafood broth on the bottom and sauces, chopped
vegetables and shredded chicken added on top”.

Singaporean
McDonald's serve Shaka Shaka Chicken. You'll get a breaded, deep-fried chicken
patty in a wax-paper bag. You dump spicy powder into the bag, and as you
"shaka" it, the spices stick to the patty with the help of the frying
oil. If you're too lazy to leave the hotel, you can always order a chicken
sandwich online, add some jasmine tea and make it
come to you with a McDelivery.

In India there are no beef
burgers at McDonald's in India try the McVeggie -- a rice, bean and vegetable
patty that McDonald's treats predictably with breading -- or the McAloo Tikki
-- a potato-vegetable burger. Then there is the Maharaja Mac, which is a Big Mac made of lamb
or chicken meat.

In Egypt, but
across the Middle East. It serves the McArabia, two chicken or beef patties in
pita bread with lettuce, tomato, onion and tahini sauce. We see this more as a
transplanted hamburger than shawarma
or falafel.

Restaurant brand protectionism is not a success tactic nor is
it a strategy that works in 2012. McDonalds has proven the case menu
decentralization and country personalization is the spring board for success.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Seattle-Tacoma, Washington has a legacy of food industry innovation,
leadership and success. There are no
signs that food innovative leadership will diminish any time soon. With
industry leading independent restaurants the ilk of Canlis, Palace
Kitchen, El Gaucho, Wild Ginger, Dahlia Lounge anyone can tell Seattle loves
restaurants, fresh food and legendary quality service.

From one of the first multi-national syndicated TV cooking shows,
"The Galloping Gourmet" which featured charismatic and continued
Washington State resident Graham Kerr focusing on rich and decadent recipes
began 1969.

Then came Jeff Smith was the author of a
dozen best-selling cookbooks and the host of The Frugal Gourmet, a
popular American cooking show which began in Tacoma, Washington around 1973 and aired
on PBS from 1983 to
1997 (as produced by member station WTTWChicago), and numbered
261

episodes.

We have to mention Starbucks the worlds leading chain of coffee outlets and
global food merchant that continues to break the retail food distribution mold
continues expanding at break neck speed.

Then there is Seattle native Nathan Myhrvold with the most important
cookbook of the first decade of the 21st century according to
Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2010. The cookbook Modernist Cuisine: The art and
science of Cooking by Mayhrvold, Young, and Bilet consist of 6 volumes
is 2,438 pages long and weighs in at 52 pounds. It cost more than 1,000,000
dollars to produce the first 6,000 copies that rapidly sold out. Myhrvold’s The Cooking Lab order a second
hard back printing of 25,000 copies and toady it is being sold both in hardback
and paperback around the world.

Entering the food space is most disruptive book retailer the world has ever
known, Amazon.com. When Amazon started a
new fresh food retail group called Amazon Fresh we here at Foodservice
Solutions® predicted that Amazon may have found its solution to “the last mile”
in delivery with Amazon Fresh. We also
properly predicted that they would enter the fresh prepared food delivery
business as well. Ah the grocerant niche
filled with ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat food finally has a global retailer aimed
at garnering market share from sleepy legacy food retailers specifically chain
grocery stores and chain restaurants.

Book readers, book stores and investors dismissed the force that Amazon.com
became early on as non-disruptive and not consumer friendly. Well we all know how that ended up. Amazon is now successfully selling groceries
and delivering fresh food in Great Britain, Germany and parts of the United
States.

Now comes
Amazon’s “Seattle Spotlight” a delivery program that is leveraging the Amazon
Fresh systems that delivers a gallon of milk, 6 apples, tomato’s hamburger and
paper towels all within just a few hours’ notice, is now offering access to
restaurant meals and ingredients. Rebekah
Denn reported that Amazon via “Seattle Spotlight” “in some cases, an interesting blend of
takeout and home cooking, ranging from opening a ready-to-heat container of
Pike Place Chowder to grilling your own Skillet burger patty and frying your
own fries.”

Restaurants contract with Amazon to sell,
cook and delivery preapproved menu items. That my friends is disruptive. Denn
went on to explain in detail how it works and she was impressed that Amazon
“with the selection, but not too surprised by it once I heard that Jonathan Hunt, formerly of Boom Noodle and
Lowell-Hunt Catering, is the chef in charge of the Seattle-only program”…. How
do restaurants figure out how to deconstruct their dishes for a home cook to
prepare, or to package them for delivery so they're still good to eat? In La
Spiga's case, I've found it fairly idiot-proof to grill my prosciutto piadina
(part of an $11.95 box lunch) at home to melt the cheese. The Samurai Noodle
ramen has also come with straightforward directions, taking a few minutes to
boil the noodles, warm the broth and pork, and add the pre-sliced toppings.

"We thought it was a neat way to
offer better service without... the extra expense of opening a
restaurant," said La Spiga co-owner Sabrina Tinsley.

Working with Hunt, "we selected
items we thought would travel well. We did a series of experiments, obviously,
to make sure they would get there the same way," she said. Soup, for
instance, "was a bit of a challenge" on a jostling ride. Baked pastas
held up better than boiled noodles.

I asked how the salad, one of my old La
Spiga favorites, arrived so crisp and fresh despite what I assumed was a day's
delay. "I try to have my staff be really careful about the way they cut
it. If you're just slamming the knife down on it it's going to bruise it and
brown and deterioriate faster," Tinsley said. “

Rick Batye, vice president of
AmazonFresh was asked how the company figures out which foods to offer, and how
hard it is to make their dishes ready-to-eat or workable at home by Denn and he
replied via Email.

He said that “the company gravitates
"towards iconic well-known brands that are associated with quality and are
unique in their offering," as well as being innovative and creative. Hunt
worked with Samurai Noodle, for instance, to make their meals "the same
experience" as you'd get at the restaurant, providing all the components
and making it easy to prepare….

How do they decide who's in the mix?
First, Batye said, they brought in merchants and products that customers had
specifically requested. Amazon approached Pasta
and Co., for instance,
"after a customer of ours raved about their oven-roasted chicken." Pike Place Fish Market is so well-known that it made sense to
ask the owners to be part of the program. "Right now we think more
merchants are better for our customers and there's no need for us to limit the
number of merchants or their products; each brings their own style and flair…

Here is Batye explaining how the
logistics work? "We pick up orders from each of our merchants once or
twice a day and merge them with each customer's regular grocery or general
merchandise orders. The products they sell on AmazonFresh are the same that
they sell in their store or restaurant, so they are ready to go or easy to
prepare as the orders come in."

This program is clearly in the early
stage of testing for Amazon. With a
track record of success and a goal to find the “last mile solution” Amazon is
clearly on the right track. Consumers
are dynamic not static food retailers must look outside the box for success,
growth and long-term profits. Seattle and the Northwest have a long history of
innovation and cultivation of food trends.
Is your company focusing on developing success within the booming
grocerant niche? Ready-2-eat and
heat-N-eat fresh food sales are booming.

Photo: Samurai Noodle ramen courtesy of
Amazon Fresh via Denn article

Foodservice
Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you
identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or
a brand leveraging integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit
Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant

Friday, December 7, 2012

One thing is clear if you
prepared a meal for a recent holiday; parts of that meal were comprised of
prepared meal components that you mix and matched then assembled with you’re
cooking into a customized home served meal.

In a survey conducted by Harris
Interactive in November, 2012 found 88% plan to host all over gain in the near
future or next year. But not surprisingly, given the amount of time and work
required, 66% of US adults who cooked a Thanksgiving meal admitted to having
some regrets with how they pulled off the meal. Number 1 on the list is timing
the meal correctly (21%), followed by not enough advance planning (16%) and too
much time spent hand-washing dishes (15%).”

In 2012 you need not have any regrets, Whole Foods, Kroger, Boston Market,
Safeway, Poyeye’s and Central Market all have complete meal packages that are
easy to assemble and simply ready-2-eat or can be heat-N-eat fresh prepared and
focused on holiday at hand. New Year’s
Eve Party’s or Christmas Dinners full meals or just components that require
little cooking knowledge or skill set.

The Grocerant
niche is booming and restaurants and grocery stores are all simply waiting for
your call, order or request. Food
retailing is evolving and retailers are out to help you create new traditions. Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us

Interested
in learning how the 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand
while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation
and individualization contact us via Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions visit
Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Without doubt when
Tesco entered the United States with a “new concept” Fresh & Easy and there
was great fanfare. There were two problems: Frist problem was service or lack
of it in the stores. The second was packaging, placement, price, portability,
products. Tesco’s analyst could crunch the numbers better and most. Their category managers focused on a view of
the food industry driven by analyst. Yet, they never understood the American
food shopping experience.

Yesterday, Tesco
stated: “Decision taken to conduct strategic review of Fresh & Easy; all
options under consideration…Tim Mason, CEO of Fresh & Easy, to leave “ If success leaves clues this is a bold clue.

This fall Tesco
announced “that new capital investment in Fresh & Easy was to be tightly
constrained whilst the business focused on reducing costs and improving the
profitability of its existing stores…It is now clear that Fresh & Easy will
not deliver acceptable shareholder returns on an appropriate timeframe in its
current form….

We have therefore appointed Greenhill to assist with the review of options. In
recent months, we have had a number of approaches from parties interested in
acquiring either all or part of Fresh & Easy, or in partnering with us to
develop the Fresh & Easy business. We will communicate progress on this
process when we present our full year results for the current financial year in
April 2013.”

The concept held
great promise for the ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food niche. All
markets are unique. Tesco simply proved
once again that IQ (intellectual quotient) does not trump EQ (emotional quotient). In the food and beverage sector companies
must be mindful that the proper balance of EQ and IQ are utilized. Tesco’s
stores are failing not because of food quality but they lack warmth and consumer interactive
participation.

Foodservice
Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you
identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or
a brand leveraging integration strategy. Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit
Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or
twitter.com/grocerant